Mystery

President Obama has repeatedly stated his position on issues at news conferences, meetings, interviews, etc… Because he is leading in the polls, he simply has to restate those positions. Conversely, Mitt Romney still is an unknown quantity, particularly in the details on many of the positions he has taken (and that is where the devil usually hides). Most importantly, he will have to answer questions on the two tax returns he has released as well as others he refuses to release.

— As the preseason opener looms, don't expect the mystery of the LeSean McCoy-Darren Sproles dynamic to be solved any time soon. Both Philadelphia Eagles running backs have been seen on the field at the same time during scrimmage sessions at training camp. And the mismatch possibilities are almost limitless. But how they will employ them when the games start counting for real will not be known until then. "You've seen it a lot. I don't know how much more you'll see it," intentionally vague offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said before Tuesday's practice.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Houston Texans knew during the 2009 season that linebacker Brian Cushing had "an issue" with the NFL. The Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year award winner was suspended by the league last week for violating its steroid policy. Cushing admits to taking a "nonsteroidal" banned substance. Texans owner Robert McNair says Monday that "Brian had mentioned that he had an issue there, but we don't know what any of the details are." McNair adds the team didn't know what doctors he consulted or what evidence the league had. McNair adds being "left out of the loop" is something that should be addressed in the next collective bargaining agreement.

As the festival's home of world music, Musikfest's Volksplatz venue has been a place to experience a smorgasbord of international sounds including African rhythms, Celtic harmonies and Siberian surf punk. On Saturday night, the sound of the subcontinent - with a twist of rock 'n' roll - will be on display when King Paris and His Hypnotic Guitar takes the stage. King Paris' website promises that the "musical mysteries of the universe will unfold" at his show, where he combines influences as diverse as Ravi Shankar and Johnny Cash, Amjad Ali Khan and Screaming Jay Hawkins, Mohan Bhatt and Elmore James.

UPDATE (12:48 p.m.): Thanks to Erin, the commenter who led us to the Rookie's solution by directing us to a website called Loopnet.com. The popular Allentown sports bar is listed for sale on the real estate site for $599,000. The listing, hidden behind a paywall, says owner Bill Smedile is selling "due to moving out of state. " Patrons found the 8,000-square-foot eatery at 1328 Tilghman St. closed on Wednesday, with no explanation other than a couple of signs on the front door saying the closure is temporary.

WARWICK TOWNSHIP — Authorities say they do not know what kind of fumes prompted evacuation of a suburban Philadelphia church and sent a half-dozen parishioners and about a dozen emergency workers to hospitals. None of the injuries was considered serious, but at least one later service was held outdoors. Officials in Bucks County say emergency officials were called shortly after 9:30 a.m. Sunday after the problem was reported during a morning service at St. Cyril of Jerusalem in Warwick Township.

Thirteen tombstones found dumped on coal mining lands in Schuylkill County have turned out to be construction debris. State police in Schuylkill Haven said a construction company came forward after a news release was issued seeking the public's help to determine how the grave headstones came to be dumped on property owned by Reading Anthracite in East Norwegian Township. The tombstones were discovered Dec. 28. State police said they have since learned a construction company unearthed them from a construction site near Mill Hall in Clinton County, and Reading Anthracite gave the company permission to dump them on their property.

A driver for a Northampton County trucking company reported missing about two weeks ago took his own life after driving to his parents' home on the Gulf Coast of Florida on March 15, according to officials. The body of Robert L. Folkins was found in Sarasota County, a few miles from his parents' home in Port Charlotte, Fla., which is about 100 miles south of Tampa and 100 miles north of Naples. Dr. Russell Vega, medical examiner for a three-county district that includes Sarasota, said Folkins died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to his chest.

In Liz Bradbury's "Maggie Gale" series, a strong and brilliant heroine takes on mysteries in a historic district based on Allentown. "Steel Drummer," the second in the series, revolves around the romance of two intellectuals, private investigator Maggie Gale and Dr. Kathryn Anthony. Bradbury uses her love of poetry and literature to intertwine historical anecdotes within her characters' dialogue, as well as the crimes they solve. In fact, protagonist Maggie Gale is based off of Dorothy - Dorothy Gale, that is - from L. Frank Baum's 1900 book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. " The book recently won the top award in the mystery category of lesbian fiction at the sixth annual Golden Crown Literary Society Conference, a national organization that promotes lesbian literature.

A 56-year-old bicyclist in Allentown was in stable condition Tuesday morning, a day after he was found badly injured on the city's north side, police said. Douglas Long, an Allentown resident, was found at 9:20 p.m. in the 1100 block of N. Dauphin Street, on the east side of the Lehigh River. He appeared to have been riding north. Long suffered a severe head injury, police said, and was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in serious condition. He was upgraded to stable condition on Tuesday.

David Volk, the Pen Argyl area man who was left in a Newark, N.J., McDonald's shortly after his birth nearly 37 years ago, on Monday tracked down the restaurant manager who found him. "I told her, thanks for finding me," Volk said after his morning phone call to Wilhelmenia B. Dinkins, the McDonald's manager who first saw his face on a ladies room floor Dec. 20, 1977. Dinkins, now retired in Conroe, Texas, said she was flabbergasted to receive the call. "I was stunned and surprised and all kinds of emotions," she said.

South Mall has been sold, though the new owner remains something of a mystery. Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust sold the property, which straddles the Salisbury Township-Allentown line, for $23.6 million, the company announced. County real estate records list the new owner as Nicholas Parks Mall LLC in Willow Grove, Montgomery County. But what that is and who's behind it remain unclear. In a news release late last week, PREIT gave no details about the buyer. Subsequent inquires were rebuffed.

Whitehall Township Public Library invites crime fiction fans to a discussion of "Murder, She Said," 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 4. Library director Patty Vahey will lead the talk and patrons are welcome to bring their favorite mysteries to discuss death and murder with other readers, the library's website said. The library is at 3700 Mechanicsville Road. For more information, call the library at 610-432-4339 or visit http://www.whitehall.lib.pa.us.

Fifty years ago Friday, a new bronze statue of the Goddess of Liberty was hoisted 100 feet to the top of Allentown's downtown Soldiers and Sailors Monument. The 13-foot-tall statue was supposed to be a replica of the original iron statue that stood atop the monument's granite column from 1899 to 1957. But this Goddess looked different. Her head was bigger, at least twice as large as the one on the old corroded statue. No one seemed to know why, and perhaps the public will never know.

Mary Lou Yurkanin woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, upset stomach and a terrible taste in her mouth that she couldn't describe. It had been Mother's Day, with temperatures near the 80s, so she had opened the windows in her house in Steel City, a neighborhood in Lower Saucon Township. At 2 a.m., she woke up feeling sick and noticed that a gas odor had crept into the house. "It was just horrific," she said. An odor trickling into the neighborhood of 250 homes has left Yurkanin and other residents concerned about the effects and Lower Saucon officials scratching their heads as to its origin.

Two masked men, at least one carrying a pistol, burst into a home near Kutztown University on Thursday afternoon, but left abruptly after indicating they were in the wrong place, police said. The intruders entered the off-campus house in the 500 block of Briar Circle, Kutztown, about 12:40 p.m. and found a young woman, a Kutztown student whom they apparently didn't expect to see, borough police said. "The suspects entered the victim's bedroom where at least one of them brandished a handgun," police said in a news release.

Guard seeking info on mystery plaque Brad Rhen Lebanon Daily News, Pa. FORT INDIANTOWN GAP -- Pennsylvania National Guard officials are attempting to solve the mystery of a plaque honoring fallen soldiers that was found recently in a field near Hershey. The 2-foot by 2-foot bronze plaque weighs more than 50 pounds and reads: "In memory of those Pennsylvania Soldiers, lying in unmarked graves in this vicinity, who perished while serving the Commonwealth and Nation. Their sacrifice gave future generations freedom.

Mary Lou Yurkanin woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, upset stomach and a terrible taste in her mouth that she couldn't describe. It had been Mother's Day, with temperatures near the 80s, so she had opened the windows in her house in Steel City, a neighborhood in Lower Saucon Township. At 2 a.m., she woke up feeling sick and noticed that a gas odor had crept into the house. "It was just horrific," she said. An odor trickling into the neighborhood of 250 homes has left Yurkanin and other residents concerned about the effects and Lower Saucon officials scratching their heads as to its origin.

Hank Phillippi Ryan may not be writing about herself in her award-winning mystery novel, "The Wrong Girl," but there are quite a few similarities between Ryan and the book's main character, Jane Ryland. Ryan and Jane are both investigative journalists. "Well, Jane is a lot younger than I am," Ryan laughs. "One of things that makes the book authentic and realistic is that what happens to Jane could happen to a real reporter. I'm not saying everything that's happened to Jane happened to me, but it could have.

When he signed a three-year, $12-million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on Labor Day weekend last summer, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez was widely believed to be in line for the much-needed third starter spot behind All-Stars Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee in the rotation. The Cuban import's first signing by the Phillies was reported by Yahoo Sports as a $48-million deal in late July. Numerous teams had bid for Gonzalez's services. But beginning with the steep change in guaranteed dollars up until his first spring outing Saturday in Tampa against the New York Yankees, mystery has surrounded the 27-year-old right-hander.